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ADDRESSES 



THE INAUQURATION 



REV. RUFUS W. BAILEY, A. M, 



PRESIDENT OF AUSTIN COLLEGE, 



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HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS. 



C9> IB Q3 Ca V37 <£ik Ca ^2- Q 33 » Q 33 53 a>o 



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i JWOUSTO.V : • 

paiMTED AT THE TELEGIIAMI BOOK AND JOB ESTABLISHMENT. 
1869. 



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The services were introduced by the reading of a portion ot Scripture, and 
prayer by the Pi'esident. A,. M. Branch, Esq., as Chairman of the Executive 
Committee, and on the part of the Trustees, addressed a large audience as- 
eembled in the College Chapel, and delivered the Keys, the Ensigns of Office, 
to the President. 



ADDRESS 

OF A. M. BRANCH, ESQ. 



Ladies and Gextlemen — 

The occasion which calls us together, is full of interest- 
Where Nature displays her beauties, there Science should build 
her temple, and upon this consecrated spot, hallowed by so 
many pleasing associations of the past, we have come up to renew 
our efforts in the great cause of Learning. Taking fresh courage 
from the circumstances by whicli we are surrounded, we are in- 
spired with confidence in the final triumph of our enterprise, and 
we behold the cloud which has lowered over us for a while, rolling 
away beyond us, and tlie rainbow of returning hope bending over 
us in the bright promise of the future. 

We have met to-night to inaugurate the President of Austin 
College, — to invest him with the insignia of his high office, and, 
to bid him God speed in conducting this, our cherished Institution, 
towards that renown which awjlits it, in the future. 

Our people, too, well know that without public virtue and in- 
telligence there can be no security for the permanency of our re- 
publican institutions, and consequently no effort has been spared 
to advance the great cause of popular enlightenment. 

Knowledge is now carried to the humble dwelling of the poor 
as well as the splendid mansion of the rich ; like the sun in his 
glory, it diffuses its light indiscriminately, and consequently all are 
enlightened. Indeed the present is an age of Science and Litera- 
ture. In every department of Learning and the Arts, our country 



commands the respect and admiration of the world. 

Although we may yet be deficient in those tilings which form 
t'lC peculiar charm of the Ancients, and which arc said to con- 
stitute the elements of classical interest and beauty, yet in every 
thing susceptible of improv:ment we have left them far behind ; 
we can truly boast of the Eloquence of our Orators, the Wisdom 
of our Statesmen, of the various Literary and Scientific Institu- 
tions that adorn and beautify our land as thickly and as beauti- 
fully as the stars of the firmament. Nature herself has not only 
founded our country on the grandest scale, but it is inhabited by 
a people who exiiibit, in all their modes of tliought and principles 
of action, a beautiful moral resemblance to the boldness of the na- 
tural scenery by which they are surrounded. It is written in the 
history of other countries that they have fallen, through the cor- 
ruption of ambitious rulers, who imposed upon the credulity of 
the people ; but ours presents the splendid example of a nation 
which, though yet in its infancy, has assumed a position the proud- 
est and the first among the powers of the earth. 

This lofty eminence has not been attained by the rapid dcvcl- 
ment of its physical resources alone, but by the energy of mind 
awakened by a liberal system of Education among the masses. 
The Science of Government can only be understood, and civil and 
religious liberty preserved, by those lessons of wisdom taught in 
the Schools. It is here that the history, the progress, tlie rise and 
fall of other nations are made known ; and here, too, is taught how 
evanescent are the trifles by which popular favor is often acquired, 
and how easily lost ; and that true distinction can only be at- 
tained by a rare combination of intellect, eloquence and virtue. 

Tiiough it is not my intention on this occasion to make a speech, 
I can not refrain from expressing the gratification which I feel in 
beholding so many young men, whose position in life, whose op. 
portimities for improvement, have marked them out as belonging 
to that class into whose hands, in after-timas, the dost.inr of oar 



beloved Country is to be comiuitted. It is to your care, Sir, tiieao 
youthiul minds must be indebted for that mental training whieh 
will enable tlicm to act well their parts in the great drama of life. 
The Board of Trustees of Austin College, having full confidence 
in your judgment and great learning, jiave, by a unanimous vote, 
placed you at the head of this Institution. Tlie promptness with 
which the public, as with one voice, have approved of their action, 
is an indication of the success with which your efforts will be 
crowned. -As a member of the Executive Committee, whose hum- 
ble representative I am, I now surrender into your hands the keys 
of this Institution, — and, as they unlock the entrance into this ed- 
ifice, so may you, and those with whom you arc associated, by les- 
sons of wisdom, impart to the Students of this Institution, the key 
by which they may gain access to the vast storehouse of knowledge 
in the records of the present and the past, and, in their turn, en- 
rich the world with imperishable trophies of minds here trained 
and developed under your culture. 



REPLY 

AND ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



Sir, — I receive these keys, extended by you in a manner too 
flattering, as indicating and conferring, m form, tlie authority un- 
der wliich I have already ac^ed in fad. In assuming the respon- 
sibilities of this office, I enter on the discharge of duties, with 
which, I may say, my course of life has rendered me long famil- 
iar, I bring also, and consecrate to the services of Austin 
College whatever of talent, acquirement, capacity or energy I 
may possess, all is earnestly devoted. 

Ladies and Gentlemen-, Fellow Citizens All. — Your atten- 
tion is now solicited to some 'facts and considerations which I 
desire distinctly to announce at this time and in this place. 

Austin College, which occupies our affections and concentrates 
our labors, embraces already, in its history, passages of absorbing 
interest. Like him whose name it bears, it takes its place as 
a pioneer in this new Empire State. Its charter dates on the 
22nd day of November, 1849, and the first class was graduated 
in June, 1854. This, then, was the first College chartered, and 
the class of '54 the first College class graduated in Texas. 

The present appears to me a fit occasion to place on record the 
story of its birth, its baptism, its early struggles, trials and 
triumphs — so that when, in the rapid flight of time, these native 
forests, now melting away, with the log cabins of the first gener- 
ations, are supplanted by cereal grains and rich cotton fields and 
palaces, the homes of refinement, luxury and intelligence — when 



the youth of other generations, seeking instruction here shall 
walk these academic groves and sit under the shade of trees 
■which Ave arc seeking to lAant and cultivate for posterity ; the 
shade trees indicative of civilization, scions taken it may be from 
the forest, but improved by education under our culture — when 
the shadowy past is gathering on the history of Austin College, 
now the child of our labors and our love, but then a century old 
and honored by its sons in every department of life and labor in 
this Empire State— when, I say, these changes shall have come 
over the primitive forests and fields which we have painfully 
wrought and cultivated, and that noble army of our sons, now 
unborn, rising up in long perspective to inherit from us, shall lean 
against the structures of our workmanship and ask, "who planted 
these trees? Who laid these foundations? Who built this seat 
of learning ?" — then, yes, then, the men of this generation will 
come into remembrance, and some of those who may descend 
from us may be proud to trace their genealogy, and glory in the 
names they may bear, of Baker, or Chase, or Yoakum, or Smith, 
or Sorley, or others of their ancestry who, in the history preserved 
in these archives, shall be recognized among the men who devised 
liberal things and came up with their counsels, their money and 
their prayers to found and organize, and preserve and perpetuate 
Austin College when it was in the weakness of infancy and un- 
noted in the general rush for good lands and personal gains. 
Now, when in our extremity, having labored almost to exhaustion, 
we call upon Hercules, the men to be remembered, are those who 
come in such a time as this. Let other men receive the honor 
that may be due them in all times — men who may endow the tenth 
or the twentieth professorship, who may add cunmlative life and 
vigor to Austin College as it will be hereafter. We propose to 
post up to the present time, to write out and deposit in the iron 
safe of this young Hercules, the history of the past, and seek to 
place at the head of honored benefactors, those to whose labors 



and wisdom this Institution owes, under God, its existence. L6t 
others take the honor of administering to its manhood — these 
liavo brouii'ht it to the birth and nursed its infancy. 

First, then, we may say, the man who made a place for us here 
by liis enterprise, labors and sufferings, gives name to Austin 
College. Then, its real founder, without whose untiring efforts 
and prayers, and indomitable perseverenceit never would have had 
a local " liabitation and a name," is recognized in the Baker Pro- 
fessorship. Then the noble man, who listened to tlie successful 
agent and really made, under the circumstances, a princely dona- 
tion to ensure success, gives name to the Chase Professorship.* 

There is another name, which deserves a place where it may be 
emblazoned through all time, on this bright page of our history, 
Col. Henderson Yoakum was a man of forecast, of prudence 
and energy, a counselor of a large heart and liberal mind. To 
him and to the devotion of his well directed labors, Austin Col. 
lege owes a debt hardly second in extent to any other due to any 
other man. His vitality was instinct with a power to impress- 
animate and control others, and while he comprehended widely 
by intuition, he had the power to influence men by a wisdom aa 
modestly expressed as it was luminous and logical. Had he lived 
the life of the College would never have been suspended. 

There is a record, too, which shall be preserved embracing the 
names of others who have freely and liberally contributed to erect 
this monument to the enterprise of the early Texas emigrants, who 
have evinced that they deemed a provision for the education of 
their children and their neighbors' children an object worthy of 
sacrifices. Those who shall descend from them shall know them, 
What their ancestors have worthily done shall be a part of their 
inheritance, and the good deeds here performed shall live with 
moral power to energize character in the line of their posterity 
to the thousandth generation. 

■* Sea Appendix A. 





We often hear of " blood " and of " stock " as applied to the 
race of man as yveW as of horses or of cattle. I believe in it. 
Bat I think it flows principally in a moral channel of transmis- 
sion. The deeds and cliaracter of aiicestors live in the traditions 
of families, are there treasin-ed and imitated. If noble, they en- 
ergize the minds that are linked to them by inheritance. If 
ignoble, they arc naturally excused or received as examples "lean 
ing to virtue's side." Hence " like begets like." Every family 
has it> history. If not emblazoned by heraldry or the writ- 
ten page, yet transmitted by tradition, sought after, 
treasured in the memory, pregnant with life and power 
to influence others in a long line of those who may come 
after them. Character is inherited as truly as property or poverty. 

Every man connects himself with his ancestry. We all feel 
this and own it. When, four years ago, I emigrated to Texas, I 
paid my last visit to my father-land, and read with intense inter- 
est the history of my ancestors traced back to Plymouth Rock 
through eight generations. I took my final leave of my mother, 
then in her eighty-eighth year — who did more to make me what I 
have been, what I am, and whatever I may be, than all other 
earthly influences together. Her instructions distilled like dew 
upon my early pathway, then fragrant with flowers and bright in 
the sunrise of life. These lessons have stood before me porma- 
nent forms at every step for more than half a century. They are 
the paving stones, "saxa viva" "lively stones," like the founda- 
tions of the city of the New Jerusalem. They have reflected 
light from heaven, guided my life and shaped its ends. Her im- 
age has been ever before me, smiling when others frowned as she 
smiled on my childhood. My children know her in her lessons 
repeated to them as they were committed to me, and these les- 
sons will have their influence transmitted through generations that 
may never know her. Such, in part, is the formation and trans- 
mission of character. "History is philosophy teaching by example.'' 
2 



10 



We will seek to place before the minds vre may here contrib- 
ute to mould and expnnd, tlie cliaracter of tlie men by whose 
labors, self-denials and sacrifices, tliey have been introduced to 
these classic walks and privileged sources of education — men who 
believed and acted on the belief, that they were made for a world 
which was mnde for them — unselfish men, who felt that their em- 
inent ability to do good Avas intended by a munificent Providence 
to ii sure to the benefit of otlicr men as well as themselves, whose 
question of duty was, not so much " AVhat good will all this do 
me?" as that other question of divine origin — "what good will 
all this do to my race, and how may it redound to the glory of 
God r 

We will ever kec]") before the minds of the youth who may 
resort here for instruction, that the founders and early friends of 
Austin College wore religious men — men of prayer, whose liber- 
al charities came Avarm gushing from souls Avho waited daily in 
devotion at that: throne whence issue the streams of divine love, 
and the light that shines with exceeding brightness on the evil 
and on the good. 

The etirl}- history of Austin College shows that it was the 
child of prayer, and traces its paternity to praying men.* As 
early as ihc year L'^ 10, the Rev. Daniel Baker, while acting as 
a missionary in Tcwas, directed public attention to the endow- 
ment and location of n College. His return to the States inter- 
rupted the prosecution of his plans, and it Avas not until 1848, 
that the Cri;/.os Prc^liytcry look the subject earnestly in hand and 
appointed Dr. Baker their tigent to take up subscriptions and 
prosecute the enterprise. In less than three years this agency 
resulted in the collection of s:'0,(H)O in money, and 15,000 acres 
of land. Huntsville was selected as the site of the College, and 
this elegant and commodious building which we now occupy 

* Sse Appendix B. 



11 



^\'■as erected and paiiJ for by public subscription at a cost o( 
:t;16,000. The Rev. Samuel AEcKinncy was. the first President, 
and took possession of the College edifice in 1852. He resigned 
the Presidency in the following year and the Rev. Dr. Baker was 
elected in his place. Dr. Balcer entered oq Lis duties as Presid- 
ing officer, in December of the same year, but still continued with 
unremitting labors and eminent success, his elforts as general 
agent until 1S5(j, when he resigiiod the Presidency, but still con- 
tinued his agency. In the AiiLinun of 1<S57, he attended on the 
meeting of the Legislature at Ausi in, to prosecute a memorial be- 
fore that body lor an appropriation in aid of the College. His 
great labor and earnest anxiety at last pro\ed to be too 

much, even for his constitution, naturally robust, yet now less 
able than forlncrly to sustaift tlr^ ^l^vjih^s-^ and ceit^oless labors of 
an ardent and impassioned soul iu I^icu pur^l!i(: of a great object. 
He sank suddenly under heart-throbs ino violeni forthestreu"'th 
of a clay tenement, as well constnicccd for its pur))ose3 as any. 
perhaps, that ever labored for 08 years, bnl not strong enoui-fi 
then to sustain tlie action of his great sonl, o.\}):indcd and strug- 
gling under the pres;^ure of his grand snbJL'ct. ITc died on the 
10th day of December, 1857, and wasbniied vritli public honors. 
The Legislature adjourned to attend his funeral, and pa'^sed res- 
olutions of regret and sympathy. His remaijis an"^ lobe removed 
and, placed under a suitable monument to roniniOinoratohis imme 
in thiis enclosure. This column sliall be the Jirst object thnt meets 
the eye in the access to Austin College, while it may be present 
in the daily walks of the successive generation? of students in 
all time to come. His jMemoirs, faithfnlly collated and pnblish- 
ed by his son, may perpetuate his character and inculcate his 
spirit in the recitation room and closet of every professor and 
every student. Tlius are we excited to great and good deeds by 
great and good men, whom we learn to love and revere. That 
book will never go out of print. That raouumeut, I shall consid- 



12 

er it a part of my duty as his immediate successor in office, to 
keep before the public attention till it is completed, and the marble 
column shall rise, suitably engraved to fill our grand idea of per. 
petuatingthe virtues of the man, when we, who know him well, 
shall be no longer here to tell them to our children's children. 

After the death of Dr. Baker, the Presidency remained vacant 
until the 15th of December last, when his successor was appoint- 
ed. In the mean time, under a combination of difficulties, the ex- 
ercises of the College were suspended, and resumed under a new 
organization on the 6th day of February, 1859. 

This forms the first chapter in the history of Austin College. 
Under a liberal Charter from the Legislature of the State, granted 
on the petition of the Brazos Presbytery, it stands in immediate re- 
lation to the Synod of Texas, by whom all vacancies that may 
occur in the Board of Trustees are filled. 

I but state a historical fact when I say that Presbyterians plant 
the Church and the SchooUiouse wherever they emigrate, wherever 
they abide. Wherever, in a new country, " they lift up the axe 
mightily upon trees," there the log cabin, the meeting-house, and 
the school house spring forth from the forest, and are raised in 
succession by the first labors of their hands. They do not wait 
to become rich before they contribute to these objects — they con- 
tribute to these objects that they may be rich. Everywhere, and 
always, they have been the liberal patrons of learning, the un- 
flinching advocates of an open Bible, of religious liberty, a sepa- 
ration of Church and State, and universal toleration. Hence, in 
the organization of this College, as of all their Scliools and Col- 
leges, intended to unite a general patronage, the only claim they 
have asserted, is for an open Bible and an exposition of the great 
principles of morals as there defined. 

When we speak of Austin College as founded in prayer by re- 
ligious men, and for religious educatian, we do not mean that i^ 
IB, or WEB, designed to be any tiling else than a Literary Institn- 



n 

tion for the cultivation of the intellect — but certainly the cultiva- 
tion of the mind in all its powers, faculties and relations, laws, 
responsibilities and obli,i2,'ations. The cultivation, then, of the 
moral sense, of ihe rclig'ious clement of our nature, which holds 
us to the Throne of God must be essential to a well-balanced mind 
and necessary to secure its eflbrts in tlie right direction. 

]t is impossible to educate an intelligent being without a recog- 
nition and training of the moral sense. Every notion of life, and 
of death, involve moral relations, emotions and duties, and we 
can not separate the mental activities from the moral emotions. 
Religion is a necessity for beings religiously constituted — and we 
are such, and can not deny ourselves. We may try to do it, but 
our convictions lie deeper than our infidelity. We can not per- 
suade ourselves that we are blind by shutting our eyes. Any 
theory of education, that overlooks or leaves out of account the 
moral man, must lay its foundation in the sand. The storms of pas- 
sion will uproot and desolate that superstructure. It is idle to Isdk 
of separating literary education from the religious sentiment, the 
cultivationof the intellect from the conscience. The child that is di- 
vided to satisfy the claims of two contending mothers, is murdered 
— and so is the boy whose intellect is educated at the ex|)ense of 
his heart. The steam engine is a power, but destructive, " destroy- 
ing others, by itself destroyed," when not directed and controlled 
— so is the human intellect when inflamed and heated by the pas- 
sions, but escaped from moral restraint. 

A College is, of necessity, under the control of I'cligious men or 
irreligious men. Our sons will be taught — they must be taught, 
by men that are religious or irreligious. Do you send out your 
sons unwarned, and therefore unarmed, into the world with all 
their senses awake to all the objects embraced in their field of 
vision, with their passions vigorous and vii-ulent, with their men- 
tal activities in restless action, inexperienced, unsuspecting and 
depraved by nature — do you dismiss them from their home and 



14 

expect to return nnclianged, unstained, made better as they ae* 
qnive laiowleda'O l>y Irnvel and i^tndy and contnct with llio world? 
Fatal cn-oi' ! A I'alhei' of rioveii sons once said to mo — " When 
niY two eldeisi hoys Averc ediicaled. I son.u'lit to separate them 
from all rcli/jions iniluoiices lliai uii,u'lii aii'oci I'leir ojjinions. I 
selected a C'oUeii-c I'ov them least iil^sdy. as I thong'lit, (o inlei-fere 
with my libei'ol ])m"i)o>:e>^, wh(.'i'G llie Profos-^or.- were men of ''no 
religion.'* After llicii- gradiuUioii and i-oliu'n Iidme, I presented 
them each wilha lli'ilo. and rcijiio-tod thcii- paiiiciil;!i- stndy of it 
to form ilieir ii)de]>c-iident religion-- O])inioiis. AVIiai ■\\'as my as- 
tonishment io find tlfirt the enemy liud aniiripatcd mc and sown 
tares. 'J'liey were iniidcls already.'"' SiiM:'e, Ihi^n. 1 -^ly. ii. is im- 
». pos>ilil<^ [or meiT'to live and Ihiiilc willioiit i'i-liuion> convicdons, 
to direct, slrcngtlien and (rain minds na(nr;dly etmslituled reli- 
gions is the part of education. Xegleci, Io culliv;! ie yom- gardens, 
and Avccds will exliaust the soil, .^o ceriainly will soni,-, that are 
without the cidtivation of the rch'gi<">us pi'inciplc, he alf/roi, alheists. 

We hold that the cducaiion of a hinnan lu'ing slionld bo adap- 
ted to his entire constilhfton and suited to the whole dui'ation of 
his !cin.i'. The cultivation of hi« intellect, ruled and cor.trolled 
bv his passions, would make him worse tiiaii before. The affec- 
tion^-, loft without the influence of a well inslrncfcd _)udgment, 
■svould mistak-e their projicr objecth. The mind and heait. then, 
must be snital)ly disciplined, and taught to act in hr-rinony and 
cori-espondence. 

Here we take our stand. We denmnd for onr sons an educa- 
tion on religious principles — an education wlde.li seeks hrst and 
always to correct the moral disorders of the heart, and then to 
give knowledge, vigor and activity to tlu; mental energies, re- 
strained by the ccnfripclal force of an enliiihtene'd and lender con- 
science. Youth can not be adequalely eontrolled by any other 
discipline. An enlightened and educated conscience secures a 
ready subjection to good laws. Intellect, cultivated at the ex- 



15 

pense of the moral sense, gives power 1o do evil with no corre- 
sponding restraint. Hence the schools whicli liavc l)ceii l)est sus- 
tained in this country have ever been those oruani/.ed under r(;li- 
gious super^ision and controlled It}- reliiiious men. Sucli must 
always be the case. The expcriniout has Itecn repeatedly made 
and ihe problem solved. I'exas has followed in the wake of 
older Stales but after their example in the construction of denom- 
inational school- — Austin College by die Presbyterians. Baylor 
University by the Baptists, and ^^oldc University by the 3Ieth- 
odists. Ycl neither of these intitulions teach theology, much less 
sectarian doctrines. They arc all, however, religious institutions 
in the sense ut making religion the basis of their tlieory of educa- 
tion, and in ihat sense only. 

For Au^tin College, founded l)y the labors of Pi'CsLyterians — 
organized, watched and watered under Ihe supervision of the Sy- 
nod of Texas, a inonumeni of iiieii' ;pal and pious eifort in the 
cau<e of learning, we claim iliat its entire construction has been 
made with reference to a whol&sonic religious influence in the 
educaiion of our youth. We (h) not teach Presbyterianism, but 
we do seek to lead the minds of our young men to "fear Cod and 
keep bis commandments"' — to (eel their obligations to God' as the 
only security to (idelity in their duties to men. We desire it to 
be di>tinctly understood that the yoimg men, who are educated 
here, have l)een made (o feel a religious inlluence Ity '■ line upon 
line and prcfopi; upon ])reccpt.'' When we cannot occui)v this 
ground, wo shall retire fi'om the labors of education, believing 
that all we can do without it would lie wor-e ilian nolhing. 

The religious aspects of Lhis College, dien. and the olijccts at 
which we aim, arc patent and palpable. While we enforce no 
dogmas and seek to instill no creed, we do seek to educate our 
youth religiously. The J3ible is installed as a tcxt-book — that is 
our creed — God's written constitution for the government of our 
race, the great moral code of the universe, the revealed will of 



16 

the King of Kings. We educate our sons to read it, to value it, 
to have it. It lies on our de.«k where we all assemble in this 
College morning and evening — the only classic thus installed as 
pertaining to all in common. We read it in two lessons a day, 
all assembled together, and seek for divine light and divine teach- 
ing that this Word of Life may be understood. We then send 
our pupils away v^ith the admonition that they are individually 
responsible to God for their own interpretation of His law and 
for the regulation of all their action under it — that they must 
give an account to God for all the deeds done in the body, each 
for himself and not another. We have in our Library, one Bible 
for every student in the Institution, subject to his use. We have 
a Bible Class on the Sabbath, at which every member of the Col- 
lege is required to be present and discuss in the most unconstrained 
manner a portion of God's Word previously assigned. Thus we 
seek to exert a religious, not a sectarian influence. The man, 
who does not wish to have his son so trained and taught, will seek 
out some other agency to aid in his course of education. But in 
this we believe we meet the mind of the people, for we are a reli- 
gious people. 

In providing for the instruction required in our course of 
study, we seek to employ religious men — men of high moral 
tone, who may impress themselves on the young mind and give a 
safe direction to it — men of might to stand at these fountains of 
inflnence and give direction to the streams that issue thence. 
That done, no religious test of sectarian mould is applied. No re- 
ligious faith is required of students, and no effort pei-mitted to 
proselyte Jicm to any religious creed. They are required to at- 
tend in an orderly mai ner on the religious services of the Sab- 
bath, but at the church of their own choice, and to worship God 
accerding to the dictates of their own consciences. 

In our theory, then, the basis of all sound education lies in the 
parallel and coincident training of the mind and the heart, of the 



17 

intellect and moral sense, not neglecting a physical discipline that 
will present tlie " mens sana in corpore sano." In Texas, how- 
ever, where our youth live so much out of doors, and are early 
attracted by the hunt and the chase with horse and hound — 
where they are conversant with the wide-extended paternal acres, 
and where an ordinary neighborhood of families embraces a ter- 
ritory equal in area to a common principality of the old world, a 
healthy constitution of physical habits naturally fostered, renders 
attention to physical discipline less a matter of definite education. 
Yet even here we encourage athletic exercises in the campus and 
gymnasium, suited to the leisure hour and intervals of study. 
Our principal labor, however, lies in leading to mental applica- 
tion, acquisition and discipline. . , 

This, then, is our introduction to a new era in the history of 
Austin College. With the lights of past experience, an improved 
and improving condition of our finances, a Faculty devoted ex- 
clusively to the duties of the recitation and lecture-room, we need 
only the material, rough-hewn, on which to try our hand and 
prove our skill. 

Let parents give us their children, the brothers in Austin Col- 
lege, and the sisters in Andrew Female College, another well-or- 
ganized Institution, — which gracefully adorns the opposite hill, — 
not under our control, but holding our confidence and having our 
sympathies — and we may confidently hope that the happy parents 
may, in due time, receive back again " their sons as plants grown 
up in their youth, their daughters as corner-stones polished after 
the similitude of a palace." 
3 



ADDRESS* 

F 

HON. P. W. KITTRELL, 

MEMBER OF THE BOARD. 



My Audience : — There is an instinctive, an influential and 
abiding principal in the breast of man which prompts him to 
seek for knowledge, to desire to be educated We see it evinced 
in every stage of our being. This prompts us continually to 
seek and desire the unattaincd and unknown. I was struck with 
the remark of one of the speakers who preceded (Mr. Branch,) 
" that it was the province of science to know no limits." My 
mind instantly associated with that idea, the one, that the 
capacity of the human mind knows no limits. A distinguished 
philosopher, I believe it was La Place, said : " that which we 
know is little — that which we know not is immense." The 
principle above alluded to, stimulates our curiosity and calls out 
our powers of research a ad investigation to the fullest extent of 
their capacity. All that we have acquired, that is new, or use- 
ful, or profitable, in our formei- researches or investigations, only 
seems to increase the desire to explore the unknown. The good 
of the present only seems to lead the mind to desire the larger 
and more indefinite treasures of the future, and the human mind 
by this process, is continually expansive and expanding, goes on 
to live in brighter scenes, and enrich itself with new treasures. 

* Tliis address, like Col. Branclie's, is an abstract, or condensed form 

of what was delivered. 



19 

Long before the discovery of America, the early maritime adven- 
turers, standing on the Canaries and the Azores, fancied they 
descried land in the far west. They, in fact, made no such dis- 
covery. But it was no extraordinary refraction of the rays of 
light, no ocean mirage which deceived them. The images, it is 
true, were illusive. But it was that intense desire, that longing 
after the unattained and unknown which deceived them. This 
same principle lies at the foundation of all our undertakings, and 
properly directed and educated, the life and soul of all our en- 
terprises — religious, benevolent and educational. 

Ir was the practical working of this principal which led to the 
building of this beautiful college edilice. Its founders had their 
eyes fixed on the future of their children — their country — the 
churches. And in so looking, they engaged in the work of rear- 
ing a college that, begining as it were, with the very infancy of 
our young, growing and interesting State, should expand into full 
and symmetrical proportions as our society should advance to 
maturit}'. They contemplated the work not only in its pro- 
bable and, 1 may say, almost certain beneficial results and in- 
fluences in society, when it should be completed ; but in the 
difficulties and trials which they would have to encounter in its 
incipiency and completion. They knew, as the worthy Presi- 
dent has told you to-night, it was not the work of a moment, or 
a day, or a year, to found such an iustitution : they knew that 
years of anxious toil and unrewarded solicitude would be re- 
quired to complete their labors. 

Here it may not be inappropriate to enquire, who who was fore* 
most in the work of erecting on the summit of this hill, this 
Pioneer temple of science ? who first crossed the almost fabled 
Sabine, and penetrated this wild counti-y, scarcely then 
rescued from the wild beast and savage, and conceived this noble 
design ? Who, endowed seemingly with a spirit of intuition, anti- 
cipated the wants of this vast Empire State of ours? Whose soul- 



20 

stirring philanthrophy, and indomitable energy prompted him to 
this deed ? I need not tell you that it was Dan'l Baker, a name I 
never now mention except with a kind of melancholy reverence. 
No ! I see these questions already answered by the saddened 
countenances of this audience. Though his remains now lie 
shrouded in the gloomy habiliaments of the grave in a neighboring 
city, yet he is deeply enshrined in our hearts and our memories, 
and long after that monumental shaft which you have been told 
to-night, will be erected on this hill to bis memory, shall have 
mouldered into dust, will he be reme iibered as the faithful min- 
ister, the warm-hearted philantbrophist, the friend and benefactor 
of learning, in short, the man who ever dared to live for purposes 
worthy of a man and a christian ; and I trust that Austin Col- 
lege may long stand as a proud and useful monument of his in- 
dustry, his energy and his philanthrojihy. 

To his successor in office, it now becomes my duty as one of 
the Trustees of the college, and on their behalf, to address myself. 

To you, sir, is committed the charge of this Institution of 
learning ; you have been appointed to this position by the confi- 
dence and suffrage of the whole hoard of trustees ; your position is 
honorable and useful, not only from the intimate relations which 
you sustain to the Board of Trustees, to the Faculty, your asso- 
ciates in teaching to the students and patrons of the institution, 
but also, from the character of the work which you are called on 
to perform. "Men of genius and enterprise have devoted their 
lives to the mingling of colors, and blending lights and shades 
on canvass, or in moulding the lifeless marble into the shape of- 
man, or investing it with interest in some other way. Their 
deeds have been made the subject of historic record, and the 
burden of the poets' song. But the resistless and unsparing 
tooth of time has doomed them both to destruction, because the 
material on which they impressed their skill as well as that 
■which contained their record was perishable." 



21 

But, sir, yours will necessarily be more lasting ; you will have 
to impress your skill on the inextinguishable intellect, the im- 
mortal minds of men, which are iinpcrisiiable. The corroding 
tooth of time can never efface your work. No, sir, if properly 
done a id sanctified and directed by the grace of God, Imndreds 
of youths who may go fortli from tliis (ollcge, as they climb 
the steep, where " fame's proud temple sliines afar, and after 
they shall have attained tlie proud summit, will point to you, sir, 
and tliis their a!ma mater, and say : by your help ^exegi niomnmn- 
ium, perennium acre." ' A Grecian artist was once asked, why 
he devoted so much time to a single work of his pencil ? his reply 
was : " I paint for eternity." In a much higher and more 
appropriate sense, may you and your associates in the great busi- 
ness of teaching, say : " We paint for eternity,"' 

You have immortal minds committed to your care. Every 
impression here made on the mind, every mental efloi-t or activity 
called forth, all moral or mental expansion in whatever form, 
will be as lasting as the imperishable minds which you teach. 
The character of your work gives honor to your position, from 
the fact, as yim have justly said to-night, that you intend to 
*' pro?ecute it within the claims, and according to the true moral- 
ity of tiic I3ible ;" a sentiment, sir, worthy ol your calling. And 
here I may be y)crmittcd to add my humble endorsement to that 
sentiment and detennination of yours ; for I have been long, 
since convinced, that it is only when agencies, human and divme, 
operate in unison, cultivating the intellect and the mora'l ele- 
ments of our nature and the better feelings and affections of 
our heart, that education can be made a blessing to mankind. 

Another tiiought which the occasion suggests, is, that your posi- 
tion, though honorable, is one of heavy responsibility and 
attended witli great difficulties. You have a great variety of 
minds to operate upon. Associations of this kind must neces- 
sarily bring together a variety of elements, each member of 



22 

•which has some peciiliarity of mind, maimers and disposition, td 
which attention must be paid in the administration of the 
government of your institution. For no association of this kind 
can succeed — can operate harmoniously and successfully without a 
proper system of discipline ; a large share of practical, sound 
wisdom, founded upon a knowledge of human character is neces- 
sary in adapting proper rules and regulations to the peculiarities 
of each and all of who may be placed under your care. Prompt- 
ness and decision, combined with prudent forbearance are also 
necessary to secure the ends of government. Your position is im- 
portant and difficult, from the peculiar nature of the business of 
teaching. In consequence of the great variety of minds you 
have to operate on, your instruction, or rather mode of instruc- 
tion, must be so varied, as to suit the temper, disposition and 
peculiarities of each. The timid and self-distrusting must be 
encouraged, and inspired with a laudable ambition for success. 
The forward and selfreliant must be taught to know that self- 
confidence will not supersede a long course of laborious industry 
and persevering toil. The indolent and inactive must be stimu- 
lated to study and close application. The excitable and impa- 
tient, to close investigation and patient thought. This whole 
work is to be so performed as to be suited to the peculiarities of 
all, so as to render the business of teaching and governing suc- 
cessful in the developement of the whole man, moral, mental and 
physical, in all the symmetrical strength and beauty of which he 
is susceptible, so as to fit him for the highest circles of distinction 
and usefulness in human society. 

The last thought which I shall present, is, that however 
arduous your work, it has its rewards ; and this reflection should 
be a stimulus to every noble and virtuous purpose connected 
with the proper discharge of duty, as well as the sweetener of 
all your cares and toils. You have your reward in the confidence 
and co-operation of the board of trustees, and your associates in 



38 

the work of instruction ; in the confidence and sympathy of the 
imperishable minds under your care, and that of the patrons and 
the friends of the institution and learning generally. And I 
sincerely hope, sir, that you may have your reward in the final 
success, which may crown your labors. I trust, sir, that thou- 
sands of youth may go forth from these academic walks, deeply 
and thoroughly imbued with the love of science and knowledge, 
well qualified to fight successfully, usefully and honorably, the 
great battle of life — and that it may ever be one of the pleasures 
of their life, to cherish a grateful remiuisence of you, and 
this, their Alma Mater. 

Then, sir, you will have your reward in the consciousness of 
having consecrated those noble gifts of Providence with which 
you have been blessed, together with youi distinguished acquire- 
ments, the fruits of many years of application and toil, to the 
good of society, in laboring to diffuse the light of knowlege 
through community, and prepare youth for the highest degree of 
usefulness here, and the highest standard of happiness hereafter. 



APPENDIX 



The design and liberal purposes of Mr. Chase may be seen in 
the following extract from a letter now on file in the College ar- 
chives, directed to Col. H. Yoakum, one of the Trustees, dated 
Natches, April 24, 1851. 

" I purchased the lands with the intention of removing to Tex- 
as, and devoting my life to the welfare of the people, and ob- 
tained a certificate of citizenship. New difficulties soon arose 
throughout the country, my voice failed, and I was laid aside from 
preaching. There was no longer any inducement to leave a home 
of comfort and competence, and I abandoned all idea of remov- 
ing there. But I never abandoned the desire to do what I could 
to promote the temporal and eternal welfare of the people of 
Texas. In 1833, I supplied Austin's Colony and the district of 
Nacogdoches with the Bible, devoted several months to thework» 
and was probably the first Protestant Minister that ever preach- 
ed a sermon in Texas. From exposure in swimming streams, ly- 
ing wet, &c., I lost the use of my right arm for several mouths, 
I merely allude to these things to show that I have been the uni- 
form friend of Texas. In devoting all my valua])lc interests there 
towards the endowment of an institution of learning, I wished to 
do it in such a manner as would best promote the end. 
4 



26 



*' Remembering that the Trustees may be pressed for f\inds In 
recting the buildings, and wishing to have the avails of the 
lands chiefly applied to the erection of necessary buildings, and 
the remainder toward the endowment of Professorships, I have 
concluded to execute a deed allowing twenty per cent, of the 
avails to be applied to the erection of necessary buildings, and 
the remainder toward the endowment of Professorships." 

In reply to a letter written to him by Dr. Baker, President of 
the College, Mr. Chase says, of date Feb. 6, 1856. 

*' The restraint imposed is not against the sale of any or all the 
lands, but against appropriating more than twenty per cent, of the 
sales to the erection of buildings, purchase of books, apparatus, 
&c., so as to interfere with the endowment of a professorship. My 
object in bestowing the land was the permanent benefit of the 
Institution — and in my judgment, that object will be better pro- 
moted by securing a Professorship than by the further erection of 
buildings at present, if the avails of the lands are inadequate to 
the accomplishment of both ; and, therefore, that the restriction 
had better remain unaltered. Experience will probably show that 
it is easier to provide for the accommodation of students than to 
secure able and permanent Professors, without a competent anci 
certain support," 

A part of the lands given by Mr. Chase, have been recently 
sold, and the money invested, more than sufficient to endow the 
Chase Professoeship. Thus is the benevolent purpose of 
this first and principal donor to the funds of Austin College ful- 
ly met, leaving a large quantity of land included in his dee4 of 
gift, to accrue in the benefit of the College, 



APPENDIX. 



B 



The origin and endowment of Austin College may be seen by 
'consulting the " Life and Labors of Daniel Baker," by which it 
will be seen also, that most of the contributions came warm froui 
the hearts of new converts brought into the church under his 
preaching, placed in his hand as an agent for the College, an 
offering with prayer lor this infant Institution, before its founda- 
tions were laid. It was sustained, too, to the day of his death 
by similar contributions to his faithful labors in the ministry, for 
which he made, for six successive years, missions to the churches 
in " the States," having sought in vain for aid from the Legisla- 
ture of Texas. 

He says, page 395, "At the Fall meeting of the Presbytery» 
(1848) held, I think, in Washington, the subject of establishing a 
Presbyterian College in Texas, was brouglitup. Something had 
been done, but not efficiently. Rev. Mr. M'Cullough had, about 
two years before, been sent on to the North as agent, and had 
obtained a considerable number of books, and money to the 
amount of about $500. But Goliad having been tlio place fixed 
upon, and this location not having been much approved of, the 
ittfitter was permitted to remain without any further action." 



28 

On page 402, he says, " I had as yet never been in Huntsville, 
Walker county, middle Texas, but having heard a favorable ac- 
count of the place, I went there and held a protracted meeting, 
which lasted a few days. As this meeting drew to a close, I 
mentioned to some of the prominent citizens that the Presbytery 
of Brazos had resolved to take measures for the establishment of 
a Presbyterian College somewhere in middle Texas. I told them 
I was pleased with Huntsville, and wished to know if the citizens 
desired the College to be established there. Subscription papers 
were put in circulation, and in a few days, some $8,000 were sub- 
scribed ' for the erection and support of a College by the Presby- 
terian church at, or within a mile of Huntsville, Walker county, 
Texas, to be called Baker College.' " 

On page 406-7, he says, " At my request, Col. H. Yoakum 
drew up the charter of the College, making such alterations as I 
suggested. At the next meeting of the Presbytery, which was 
held at Independence, the charter was submitted— and a commit- 
tee was appointed to secure the needful charter. When the nam- 
ing of the institution was called up, I found that there was a 
communication from the original subscribers requesting the Pres- 
bytery to sanction the name originally given. I again declined 
the honor proposed to be done me. The matter was discussed, and 
the Institution was named Austin College, in honor of Stephen 
F. Austin, the great Texas pioneer." 

On page 430, he says, " On the 6th day of April, 1850, 1 was 
appointed permanent agent. Shortly after, I received, first a 
verbal, and then a wiitten communication from Rev. Benjamin 
Chase, of Natches, Mississippi, stating that he had some lands in 
Texas, which he was willing to donate to the College. This was 
the rising of the morning star upon our noble enterprise. Soon 
after, he writes from New Orleans, page 433, " I have succeeded 
in my agency far beyond my most sanguine expectations. Be- 
sides remitting $377, there are good subscriptions for $500 or 



29 

$600 more." Writing from Savannah soon after, he says — " I 
have set my heart upon making Huntsville, as far as I have influ- 
ence, the Athens of Texas, in building up there a College of high 
character, one that shall be a credit to Texas and an honor to the 
Presbyterian name." 

On page 441, he says — " On this tour, I obtained books, maps, 
globes and subscriptions in money to the amount of $4,165. I 
went to Natches, saw brother Chase, and received from him a 
relinquishment of all the lands which he owned in Texas, amount- 
ing to nearly 15,000 acres. Upon my return to Texas, I succeed- 
ed in securing lands to the College valued at $25,000." 

In 1851, he goes North on his second tour, and writes on his re- 
tm-n (p. 445,) " My tour has been upon the whole, quite success- 
ful — something more than $2,000 in money. Besides this, the 
"Texas Emigrating Company" of Louisville, Kentucky, have 
donated to Austin College, $1,000, in a certain contingency, with 
the probability of that amount being trebled." " A donation was 
also made in New York of a fine philosophical apparatus, which 
cost $800, by a distinguished philanthropist, an elder in Dr. Phil- 
lips' church, Wall street." 

The result of his third tour, principally in South Carolina, 
through a series of revivals, is recorded on page 479, — " Free 
will offerings to the College poured in in a wonderful manner- 
Heavy remittances were sent home. It was one check after an- 
other ! The whole amounting, I think, to nearly $6,000. 

His fourth tour, through a similar course of revivals, is thus 
summed up on page 500, — " I have sent home more than $4,400, 
and have on hand more than $1,500." Records like the follow- 
ing fill his letters : — " Hearts opened — purses have been opened, 
also, and in some cases, the silvery stream flowing in has been 
swollen to such an extent that I had lo check it ! How thankful 
should I be that the Lord has so abundantly blessed my labors of 



30 

love ; for if I had not been blessed in my preaching, I should 
never have been so successful in my agency. 

His fifth and sixth tours were confined to Texas — " It is time," 
he said, " that Texas should pass her minority and act for herself, 
I am ashamed longer to beg abroad. Here his efforts were con- 
fined to the endowment of the Baker Professorship of Mathemat- 
ics, and the Chase Professorship of Languages. On July 1, '57, 
he writes thus : — " Our endowment scheme goes on swimmingly. 
During my trip of some five weeks in eastern Texas, I obtained 
subscriptions to the amount of $1,600. During my more recent 
trip to Galveston, Columbia, &c., I obtained for the College in 
notes and land to the amount of some $4,300, The whole amount 
added to the resources of the College since January last, is some- 
thing like $26,000. Tliis includes sales of land given by Rev. 
Benj. Chase, to amount of $15,000, and invested in coupon bonds.' ' 

The good man then turned his attention again to the Legis- 
lature of Texas, assembled in the Fall at Austin, and there died 
knocking at the door of the Capitol. 

Such is the origin, such the history of Austin College. Is it 
not the child of prayer, founded by religious men, by the free 
will offerings of the church in her harvest-home, of her children 
in their bridal ? 



tH 



TRUSTEES. 



Rev. RUFUS W. BAILEY, Ex-officio President. 
" J. W. MILLER, 
" R. H. BYERS, 
Hon. SAM HOUSrON, 
Col. JOHN HILL, 

WM. A. STEWART, Esq., 

J. CARROL SMITH, Esq., 

A. M. BRANCH, Esq., 

JAMES SORLEY, Esq., 
CoL JOHN HUME, 

D. McGregor, Esq., 

A. J. BURKE, Esq., 
Rev. JAMES WILSON, 
" P. H. FULLENWIDER, 
Dr. J. A. LAWRENCE, 
Hon. P. W. KITTRELL. 



J. M. FULLENWIDER, Librarian. 
S. C. ROUNTREE, Esq., Treasurer. 



THE PRESIDENCY. 

Rev. SAMUEL McKINNEY, 
Elected President, April 5, 1850 ; resigned June 29, 1853. 



32 



Rev. DANIEL BAKER, D. D., 

Elected President, June 29, 1853 ; resigned Jan'y 16,1857. 

Prof. A. E. THOM, 

Acting President, from Jan'y 16, 1857, to June 24, 1858. 

Rev. RUFUS W. BAILEY, 

Elected President, December 15, 1858. 



FACULTY. 



Rev. RUFUS W. BAILEY, A. M., President, 

Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. 

Rev. JOSEPH H. CALVIN, A. M., 

Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages. 

JOSEPH H. PENTECOST, A. B., 

Prof, provisional, of Mathematics and Natural Science. 

WM. F.PERRIE, A. B., 

Prof, adjunct of Latin and Greek Languages. 

Profs. PERRIE & PENTECOST, 

In charge of Preparatory Department, pro tem'p(yre. 



ERRATA, 

Page 9 — 10th line, omit or before yet. 
Page 10 — istli line, for insure read inure. 
Page 11 — 12th line, for were read here. 
Page 14 — 1st line, insert them after expect. 



0^7 2, 1860. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 917 410 4 i 



I 



